In WatchTime’s February issue, on sale next week, executive editor Norma Buchanan profiles Peter Speake-Marin, the British watchmaker who has been plying his trade as an independent for a decade. Click below for audio excerpts from Buchanan’s exclusive interview with Speake-Marin.

In these clips, Speake-Marin discusses the hard times he and other independent watchmakers endured during the recession and how they inspired his Spirit watch, with its motto “Fight, love and persevere”; and offers up an intriguing answer to our query, “What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever made?”